Today's Guest: Singer John Denver.

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In the years that I was a pop music critic for the St. Petersburg
Times and Tampa
Tribune back in the mid-1980s, one of the best parts
of the job was interviewing musicians by phone before they came to
town. I always liked the conversation, the give-and-take, the
challenge of engaging talented men and women who talked all day
long with reporters—and no doubt hated most of it. At the end of
almost every interview, the musician would invite the critic to
come backstage after their upcoming show and say “Hello.” I almost
never did that because I knew it was more a pleasantry than a
sincere invitation. But when John
Denver said to come around, I actually followed through. It
was January 21, 1984, the weekend of Super
Bowl XVIII in Tampa, and John was performing at the
Bayfront Center Arena in St.
Petersburg as part of the festivities. My mother was in town
visiting that week and I bought tickets to take her to see Denver,
as well as Frank Sinatra and Luciano
Pavarotti. I thought it would be a treat for her to go backstage
and meet Denver, so that’s what we did. Denver greeted her by her
first name: “Phyllis! It’s so nice to meet you!” And told her what
a nice story her son wrote about him. He even posed for a photo. Of
course, that was actually the second backstage visit I arranged for
my Mom over the years. The first was in 1975, when I bought tickets
for her and my dad to see “God’s Favorite” on Broadway, starring
Charles Nelson Reilly, who went to
high school with my father back in Hartford. But that’s a story for
another day. I hope you’ll enjoy this never-before-heard Mr. Media
“Lost Tapes” rare John Denver interview, recorded on January 13,
1984.

About the Podcast

What is Mr. Media® Interviews? The curiosity of Terry Gross, the skepticism of John Oliver, the unpredictability of Howard Stern, and, on occasion, the zen of Jon Stewart! Since February 2007, more than 1,300 exclusive Hollywood, celebrity, pop culture video and audio podcast and print interviews by Mr. Media®, a.k.a., Bob Andelman, with newsmakers in TV, radio, movies, music, magazines, newspapers, books, websites, social media, politics, sports, graphic novels, and comics!